A History of the Charismatic Movements Movements the Charismatic of History a CH510 - Transcript Rights Reserved
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A History of the Charismatic Movements the Charismatic of History A A History of the Charismatic Movements CH510 LESSON 16 of 24 Key Figures in the Renewalist Movement John D. Hannah, PhD Experience: Distinguished Professor of Historical Theology, Dallas Theological Seminary We continue today with our discussion of charismatic renewalism. My basic line of argument historically has gone something like this: that the classical Pentecostal movement, the first wave or the first evidence of what has been called the Latter Rain Movement came to be between 1901 to 1906 and flowered. By the 1940s there was some concern among very godly charismatic people that the Latter Rain Movement was failing for a variety of reasons that we spoke to very briefly. Through the phase of deliverance evangelism, several of those very prominent deliverance evangelists, like Oral Roberts, were able to make a transition from classic Pentecostalism to renewalism and so that in 1959 to 1960 (in that era roughly), you have the birth of what is commonly called the second phase or what I would call the renewalist movement, sometimes called Neo-Pentecostalism. Last time we rehearsed the basic history of it, and I’d like to begin there but spend our time today in this lecture looking principally at some main pivotal figures within the movement. Against the background of the history of the emergence of neo-Pentecostalism or charismatic renewalism is now time to highlight the major figures, organizations, and publications agencies that promote the growing movement. As has been previously noted, the charismatic renewalist movement began embryonically in the 1950s, emerged in 1959 with Bennett’s discovery at St. Mark’s within the Episcopal community. From that beginning renewalism has penetrated most, if not all, the mainline denominations in the United States, as well as the Church of England. By way of definition, the charismatic movement does not claim to possess a new set of beliefs originated by a twentieth-century denomination. Rather, they maintain that their beliefs point back to the early church. Transcript - CH510 A History of the Charismatic Movements 1 of 15 © 2019 Our Daily Bread University. All rights reserved. Lesson 16 of 24 Key Figures in the Renewalist Movement The movement is a faith movement that places a high priority on the feeling of faith as opposed to its object of content. Quebedeaux I think said it well when he says, When Christ promised His disciples that He would bestow upon them His Holy Spirit after departing from them, He anticipated three practical needs the Spirit would satisfy in lives: confirmed faith, bring joy in the midst of suffering, and assure, guide, and teach those who would choose to follow Christ. Yet to many, if not most Christians, Christ’s promise of His indwelling Spirit may be accepted intellectually, but it is not received experientially. Hence the promise is meaningless, and the question is raised again and again: How do I know that the Holy Spirit dwells within me? Charismatic Renewalism offers an answer to this question. The baptism of the Holy Spirit, a powerful experience that convinces the recipient that God is real, that God is faithful to what He has promised, and that the same signs and wonders described in the book of Acts can happen today to me. Charismatic Renewalism rejects the liberal non- supernatural God who really isn’t there anyway, but it also rejects the rational evangelical God of the intellect, the great river or the great giver of propositional truth in favor of the God you can feel, respond to, and love. The God who cares about our present and future. It is the knowledge of this God that given through the experience of the Holy Spirit that binds Charismatics together. In a word, Charismatic Renewal is a celebration in our generation that God has not forgotten His promises, that He is, in fact, indeed a living God, totally committed to work in evidential ways through the lives of those committed to Him. We’ve already noted some of the key figures within the emergence of the movement. Demos Shakarian, the founder of the Full Gospel Businessmen’s Fellowship International. David du Plessis, and more than any other individual he merits the title “Mr. neo- Pentecostalism.” Oral Roberts is obviously a strong charismatic renewalist, and his university is and was the center of the movement. Dennis Bennett, an Episcopalian rector, was the leader of the movement from its conception at St. Mark’s and later at St. Luke’s in Seattle, Washington. Transcript - CH510 A History of the Charismatic Movements 2 of 15 © 2019 Our Daily Bread University. All rights reserved. Lesson 16 of 24 Key Figures in the Renewalist Movement While for the purpose of our study focus is placed on various leaders, it must be understood that the movement is fully decentralized. There are no universally recognized leaders. Each leader speaks to a limited sphere of the entire movement, none make binding decisions for the entire movement, and theological uniformity is nonexistent and not stressed. Quebedeaux, when analyzing neo- Pentecostal or the new charismatics, says, “Pentecostal Christians recognize each other on the basis of criteria born of a common experience, not because a leader announces that a given person is a legitimate participant in the movement.” Also the movement is segmentary; that is, there’s a great variety of localized groups or selves and group intersect in the matrix of interrelationships. So it’s hard in a way to define it universally with broad categories as we would have a tendency to do as teachers, in that it is a very decentralized movement and theology varies across that movement, though there are commonalities, as we will stress. But in the few moments I have, I’d like to rehearse some key figures, key places, key movements. Since the earliest visible center of the charismatic movement was in Stone’s organization, the Blessed Trinity Society, Van Nuys, California, it seems best to begin there. A possible earlier center was obviously St. Mark’s. Jean Stone may happily be called the Phoebe Palmer of neo- Pentecostalism. She was an affluent housewife and mother. Jean was an active member at St. Mark’s in Van Nuys in the 1950s where she longed for spiritual meaning. Harper suggests that “for several years she had been aware that something was missing in her life.” She attended all the services she could, read the Bible regularly, prayed at various times every day, and served in many of the organizations of her church. Hollenweger in his book says this, “Though she assiduously prayed in the way that is required in the Anglican Church, went to all the services, and gave a good deal of money to the church, she felt a void in her life, which nothing but more of Him could fill. Because she was a woman, she could not be ordained in the Anglican Church, because she was a mother, she could become an Anglican nun, and because her husband had no vocation on the mission field, she could not become a missionary, so she saw no possibility of active work in the church. But when she was filled with the Spirit, she saw it was not her destiny to waste her life with aimless conversations at parties with the high society of California. Her home became a meeting place for clergy and laity from the upper levels of society who sought the baptism of the Spirit.” Transcript - CH510 A History of the Charismatic Movements 3 of 15 © 2019 Our Daily Bread University. All rights reserved. Lesson 16 of 24 Key Figures in the Renewalist Movement The turning point came when together with others she attended a St. Mark’s Church retreat under her pastor, Dennis Bennett. Harper says, “The speaker said something which struck a chord in some of those present. ‘The church,’ he said, ‘ought to ask to be forgiven for its sin of neglecting the Holy Spirit.’” For Jean Stone, as for others, the Holy Spirit was practically unknown, so they prayed that the Holy Spirit would come to their church, not knowing what this was going to mean to some of them. The prayer was answered, though not in a way they expected. Mrs. Stone rapidly became recognized as the popular authority and lecturer within the charismatic renewalist movement. In 1961, she founded the Blessed Trinity Society. This society, organized by Jean Stone in her home, as the first distinctly neo- Pentecostal organization for fellowship, teaching, evangelism, and publication. With David du Plessis, a prominent board member, the society sponsored numerous Christian advanced seminars to acquaint people with the Holy Spirit. The Trinity magazine, an arm of the Blessed Trinity Society, was the most effective vehicle in Stone’s ministry. The Trinity, a Donald Stone- financed sophisticated quarterly that was aimed at the well- educated conservative urbanite from the denominational church, began publication in 1961 and gained international notoriety by 1965. Until 1966, the Blessed Trinity Society in Van Nuys was the unofficial headquarters of neo-Pentecostalism, Trinity its leading periodical voice, and Jean Stone its most important spokesman. However, Mrs. Stone’s travels and organization and leadership in the movement took its toll, and by 1966, she left that movement. But the early leader, apart from others, is this Phoebe Palmer, Jean Stone. She was very influential, for instance, in the insights of Michael Harper, an English curate who was given a copy of the newspaper that introduced him to Spirit baptism in London, and we’ll come back to that story as this story evolves.